Starbucks – Gigaomhttp://gigaom.com
The industry leader in emerging technology researchThu, 24 May 2018 17:25:15 +0000en-UShourly1For mobile payments, women use Starbucks app, college kids use Venmo (chart)http://gigaom.com/2013/08/06/for-mobile-payments-women-use-starbucks-app-college-kids-use-venmo-chart/
http://gigaom.com/2013/08/06/for-mobile-payments-women-use-starbucks-app-college-kids-use-venmo-chart/#commentsTue, 06 Aug 2013 18:36:35 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=676388There are hundreds of millions of smartphones in the U.S. but just a small portion use apps to pay for things. That’s despite the efforts of web payment giants like PayPal(s EBAY) and the ubiquitous Google(s GOOG), who both operate mobile payment platforms that are still looking for better adoption.

Onavo Insights gathered data about payment app use in the U.S. from several million iOS and Android users of the company’s mobile data utility apps. The company shared with us what it found out about how mobile payments apps and platforms have grown in the U.S. over the last year. It’s not a complete picture, but it gives a sense of how these apps are faring among smartphone users.

Here is the reach of what Onavo found to be the most-used mobile payments apps in use in the U.S.:

And here are their retention rates among the people who’ve tried them:

Things to note:

Starbucks(s SBUX) is the clear winner. But its app is not only used for payments — it is used to download free songs and apps, find stores and see menus as well.

Still, people are spending money in the app — of the $500 million spent through mobile apps last year in the U.S., the “vast majority” was through Starbucks mobile cards, according to earlier data shared by Berg Insights.

Venmo may have a small audience, but it’s growing (doubled use in June) and the audience is showing loyalty. And that audience is mostly young people, according to Onavo. It stands out from other payment apps, like Starbucks and PayPal, which are most popular among users between 25 and 34.

Mobile payment use is higher among men for all the apps listed, except for Starbucks, where women make up 54 percent of users. Square Wallet has the lowest ratio of female users at 21 percent.

The biggest carrier-advocated mobile payments platform has yet to launch nationwide: Isis will start rolling out to all U.S. locations later this year and be available on multiple mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone. That will be one to watch.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2013/08/06/for-mobile-payments-women-use-starbucks-app-college-kids-use-venmo-chart/feed/2Starbucks will get speedier, Google-powered free Wi-Fihttp://gigaom.com/2013/07/31/starbucks-will-get-speedier-google-powered-free-wi-fi/
http://gigaom.com/2013/07/31/starbucks-will-get-speedier-google-powered-free-wi-fi/#commentsWed, 31 Jul 2013 14:04:44 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=673938Sometimes, the only way to get connected is via coffee shop Wi-Fi. And for many people across the U.S., the nearest Wi-Fi-enabled cafe is a Starbucks.

But Starbucks is notorious for its spotty internet connections. It’s always free, but the challenge of getting a connection while waiting for a Frappuccino means many people don’t even try, much less camp out the way that many customers do at indie establishments.

But that may be about to change, as Google announced that it would be boosting the Wi-Fi in all 7,000 company-operated Starbucks stores over the next 18 months. The search giant promises connection speeds up to 10 times faster than what they are now, and 100 times faster in Google Fiber cities across America. Starting in August, each free Wi-Fi connection will be available under the same name “Google Starbucks.”

This isn’t the first time Google has rolled out fast free Wi-Fi. The company has finally moved forward with plans to bring Wi-Fi to San Francisco parks, eight years after proposing the idea to the city. With an expanding portfolio of Google Fiber cities and plenty of municipal initiatives under its belt, Google’s strategic partnership with Starbucks will finally bring more internet to people across the country.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2013/07/31/starbucks-will-get-speedier-google-powered-free-wi-fi/feed/7Silicon Valley Starbucks serve up wireless charging but you’ll need a special phone casehttp://gigaom.com/2013/07/26/silicon-valley-starbucks-serve-up-wireless-charging-but-youll-need-a-special-phone-case/
http://gigaom.com/2013/07/26/silicon-valley-starbucks-serve-up-wireless-charging-but-youll-need-a-special-phone-case/#commentsFri, 26 Jul 2013 21:03:00 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=672355After trialing wireless charging stations in Boston, Starbucks(s sbux) is expanding the program to select locations in Silicon Valley. Before you get too excited by the prospect of free device juice with your morning latte, make sure you check which wireless charging standard your phone or tablet uses.

Starbucks is using wireless technology based on the PMA, or Power Matters Alliance, standard. That makes sense when you read this brief bit from the PMA “About Us” page:

“The PMA’s agenda is spearheaded by like-minded leaders of industry and government, including representatives from Procter & Gamble, Google, Starbucks, AT&T, Powermat Technologies and the US Department of Energy.”

Here’s the rub: Most of the recent devices that support wireless charging don’t use the PMA standard. Instead, they support Qi, an older standard. Need some examples of Qi-supported devices? The new Nexus 7 tablet, HTC Droid DNA, Samsung’s Galaxy S 4, Nokia’s(s nok) Lumia 928, and Google’s Nexus 4 smartphone all support Qi, meaning you can’t recharge them wirelessly at participating Starbucks locations.

Apple’s(s aapl) iPhone doesn’t natively support any kind of wireless charging, but Duracell Powermat, a key member of the PMA, does sell cases that add the charging capability. The company also sells a similar add-on for the Galaxy S 3. But when it comes to devices that natively support wireless charging, I can’t think of one that works with the PMA standard yet.

For now, you can expect Starbucks to make your coffee just the way it works for you, even if your smartphone doesn’t yet work on a Starbucks charging pad.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2013/07/26/silicon-valley-starbucks-serve-up-wireless-charging-but-youll-need-a-special-phone-case/feed/2Four reasons why Apple’s Passbook is growing on retailershttp://gigaom.com/2013/06/25/four-reasons-why-apples-passbook-is-growing-on-retailers/
http://gigaom.com/2013/06/25/four-reasons-why-apples-passbook-is-growing-on-retailers/#commentsTue, 25 Jun 2013 22:49:59 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=661462We still have no leader in mobile payments, but when it comes to digital gift cards Apple’s Passbook is doing a decent job of making its case with big-name retailers — many of whom were somewhat skeptical of its utility when Passbook(s AAPL) was first went live in fall 2012.

CashStar, which makes digital gift cards for several dozen big name brand retailers including Starbucks,(s SBUX) Dunkin Donuts,(s DNKN) Sephora, Williams-Sonoma,(s WSM) Gap,(s GPS) Best Buy(s BBY) and others, has good insight into how some of the biggest retail brands are faring with Apple’s digital wallet. And today, nearly 10 months since Passbook’s launch, CashStar released data claiming that about one-third of all digital gift cards that are sent to someone are opened on a smartphone, two-thirds of which are iOS 6 devices. About 30 percent of those are actually added to the Passbook app.

Gift cards, of course, are not the only feature of Passbook. The app is intended to be a repository for anything that would be kept in a wallet, including airline and train tickets, coupons, rewards cards, entertainment passes and, yes, gift cards.

Most major airlines have embraced Passbook, as have many movie theaters, ticket companies and some sports leagues. While several big brands like Starbucks and Sephora were on board with Passbook at launch, many other big retailers “weren’t sure what would happen at first,” CashStar VP of Marketing Gene Cornfield told me on Tuesday. “Some took a wait-and-see approach.” But that is very much changing, for several reasons.

Users are starting to understand Passbook: Apple didn’t make it easy to figure out how to use Passbook at first. But, a few months later, it made some important changes. And now, CashStar says every “two to three months” the percentage of digital gift cards added to Passbook is doubling.

People are actually spending money in Passbook: Without being more specific, CashStar says “millions of dollars” in gift cards have been added to Passbook since it debuted. Though the number of users of Passbook gift cards is still in the “hundreds of thousands.”

Location-based reminders: Lost, left at home, or forgotten gift cards don’t do retailers any good — they recognize revenue dollars from gift cards once they’re redeemed. And it turns out that the location-based alerts built into Passbook are helping them out here.”The geo-fenced reminder of when you’re near a store … is a great prompt for a consumer to spend the balance” of a Passbook gift card,” Cornfield said. “Retailers like it because it brings consumers in the store.” Digital gift cards that get added to Passbook, “with reminders, is actually increasing the redemption velocity even more.”

Training consumers for true digital payments: A lot of the gift cards added to Passbook are indeed gifts. But plenty are cards that customers load for themselves to use basically like money: think Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts cards that are reloaded each month as a quick method to buy coffee with a phone.

Interestingly, if you ask customers if they’d be interested in a mobile payment service, like hooking up a credit card or bank account to a mobile device, they tend to be skeptical and cite security concerns.

“We’re seeing very little if any resistance to putting gift cards, which are as good as cash, on a mobile device,” said Cornfield. People pay with a Starbucks digital gift card 4.5 million times a week — that’s a lot of coffee and a lot of casual use of phones as a payment device. It’s a good way of familiarizing users with the concept of paying by phone.

No one has emerged as a leader in mobile payments, though there are plenty of groups vying for it. But with the software that’s catching on, millions of devices in people’s hands, 575 million credit card accounts, and growing momentum with retailers, Apple is positioning itself quite carefully to be that leader one day — should it want to.

This post was corrected on 6/26 to note that CashStar said hundreds of thousands of Passbook users are using gift cards, not tens of thousands, as previously stated.

This switch to digital will see the removal of the cards typically found near cash registers, instead swapping the lengthy codes for a paperless solution. Customers will now need to either connect to the complimentary in-store Wi-Fi, or fire up the Starbucks app and follow the on-screen prompts to download their latest freebie.

Speaking to CNET, Starbucks Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman explained that the action is a “reflection of Starbucks and Apple working together to strengthen the relationship for customers.” Brotman stated that the company’s apps are now used actively by more than 10 million users, adding that this latest move is just another step in their plan to “integrate more things” into their mobile offering.

To mark the move away from redemption codes the coffee chain is currently giving away for free Rovio’s Angry Birds Star Wars, usually priced at 99 cents.

The established Pick of the Week promotion has presented a great way to get paid apps into the hands of a broad range of customers, which is not only good for Apple as a way promote iOS apps, but also good for Starbucks who gets to give out a freebie with its cup of joe.

Now admittedly, Starbucks choosing to swap the tried-and-tested paper cards for direct downloads is a good move for those regular, more savvy users of the promotion (let alone the environment). Yet it could be argued that the removal of those physical, tangible cards may result in a drop in downloads. Customers could just forget to fire up the app and grab the freebie — the little cards served as a solid call-to-action to at least look at the latest promo item. Let’s hope Starbucks keep some form of in-store promo in place for the downloads, or they may just get forgotten about.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2013/04/09/starbucks-ditches-physical-ios-app-cards-how-will-it-affect-app-downloads/feed/4New York Times gives Starbucks visitors 15 free stories a dayhttp://gigaom.com/2013/02/27/new-york-times-gives-starbucks-visitors-15-free-stories-a-day/
http://gigaom.com/2013/02/27/new-york-times-gives-starbucks-visitors-15-free-stories-a-day/#commentsWed, 27 Feb 2013 15:51:10 +0000http://paidcontent.org/?p=225214Caffeine-addicted New York Times(s nyt) fans are in luck — the paper is offering 15 free articles a day to those who surf its website while sitting in a Starbucks(s sbux). This is just the latest example of how news brands are using the public’s insatiable appetite for free WiFi as a vehicle to promote their content.

Under the Times‘ Starbucks plan, which went into effect last week but was announced today, readers will be entitled to read three articles a day from each of the News, Business, Technology and Most Emailed sections. The Times will also offer three more articles from a rotating list of other sections like Sports.

The Starbucks offer comes at a time when the Times is tightening loopholes around its so-called “metered paywall” which caps readers at 10 free articles a month.

Times spokesperson, Linda Zebian, confirmed by phone that the 15 articles available through Starbucks are in addition to the 10 free monthly ones. The catch, however, is that the Times’ chooses the free Starbucks stories. It offers them on a special landing page that looks like this:

Zebian would not provide specifics about the business arrangements between the Times and Starbucks, and only noted that the Times has long sold its newspapers through the coffee chain. Most Starbucks locations across the country provide free Wi-Fi.

The Starbucks gambit is just one way that news brands are using Wi-Fi to promote and distribute their digital content. In August, the Wall Street Journalannounced a plan to provide free Wi-Fi access in more than 1300 hotspots in New York and San Francisco; the only requirement is for readers to log-in to the Journal’s website. These Wi-Fi schemes provide the news companies not only with exposure, but also allow them to glean valuable customer data such as where and when readers visit their sites.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2013/02/27/new-york-times-gives-starbucks-visitors-15-free-stories-a-day/feed/5Friday funny video: How to use a dual-screen Windows tablet in Starbuckshttp://gigaom.com/2013/02/01/friday-funny-video-how-to-use-a-dual-screen-windows-tablet-in-starbucks/
http://gigaom.com/2013/02/01/friday-funny-video-how-to-use-a-dual-screen-windows-tablet-in-starbucks/#commentsFri, 01 Feb 2013 13:59:15 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=606544Let’s face it: More often than not, the Apple(s aapl) logo is everywhere at Starbucks(s sbux). You see it on iPhones, iPads, iPods and MacBooks. Heck, occasionally you see it on a “portable” iMac! But the ol’ Microsoft Windows(s msft) branding appears from time to time, begging the question: How does one blend in with the Apple crowd with such a device?

Here’s the simple answer from Steve Paine, provided you’re using an Asus Taichi 21 in your local coffee shop:

I’ll be honest, I never really saw a use for the second touchscreen display on this Asus laptop. Now, I have. Of course, with the Asus Taichi 21 costing $1,300 or more, this is far more expensive than the old method of using an Apple sticker, no?

]]>http://gigaom.com/2013/02/01/friday-funny-video-how-to-use-a-dual-screen-windows-tablet-in-starbucks/feed/4Square: We’re going to be the “remote control for commerce”http://gigaom.com/2012/11/13/square-were-going-to-be-the-remote-control-for-commerce/
Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:13:05 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=584282Square has been a darling of the startup world since launching service in 2010. Now, as the mobile payment company looks ahead to 2013, it thinks it is poised to become a household name and a global brand, bolstered by support from ubiquitous partners such as Starbucks (s sbux) along with millions of other smaller merchants.

“In 2013, Square Wallet will become an every day utility that Americans will use to drive commerce decisions,” said Keith Rabois, Square’s COO in an interview with GigaOM. “It will become their remote control for commerce.”

Square had an amazing run in 2012, growing its merchant base from 1 million to 3 million while its annualized processing rate — the total value of transactions processed through Square — has shot up from $2 billion to now $10 billion.

But if 2012 was transformational, Rabois believes 2013 has the potential to be huge. Rabois told me the Starbucks deal is a turning point that is allowing more consumers to run their lives through Square Wallet.

The Starbucks deal, first announced in August, has prompted a deluge of interest from other retailers and businesses, who want to work with Square on payments, Rabois said. He said the company, which still hasn’t invested in a big salesforce, is choosing its next partners carefully to make sure they fit with Square’s overall strategy.

Square COO Keith Rabois

But don’t expect Square to integrate with other mobile payment systems. Rabois said customers don’t want more complications and connections to “bloated” payment systems.

He said Square, however, could see more use for QR codes in the future. While the Starbucks integration began with the Square Wallet app presenting a QR code, which works with Starbucks’ existing hardware, the plan is to roll out Square Wallet’s “pay by name” feature in Starbucks stores in 2013 so users will be able to just give their name and show their face to pay to confirm the transaction. But even when that happens, there’s an opportunity to use QR code technology in conjunction with Square, Rabois said.

“We still have much to do in the United States, but only a small fraction of the people live in the U.S.,” he said. “We will certainly launch in a set of markets in 2013. We will definitely be a global brand by the end of 2013.”

]]>Mobile payments and a latte: Our test of Square Wallet at Starbuckshttp://gigaom.com/2012/11/07/hands-on-with-square-wallet-now-ready-for-lattes-at-starbucks/
http://gigaom.com/2012/11/07/hands-on-with-square-wallet-now-ready-for-lattes-at-starbucks/#commentsThu, 08 Nov 2012 05:01:59 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=582009One of the splashiest recent headlines in mobile payments was the partnership announced in August between Square and Starbucks (s sbux), which said it will accept payments through the Square Wallet app at its 7,000 U.S. stores. Well, the integration is now live and I tried it out to see how well the Square Wallet app works at Starbucks.

For all the talk about the big partnership, the integration is quite simple and works well within the flow of the existing Square Wallet app. Users with the latest version of Square Wallet on iOS (s aapl) and Android (s goog) can now see the nearest Starbucks store in their Wallet directory and they can pay by scanning a QR code at U.S. Starbucks-operated locations.

When you open the Square Wallet app, the directory highlights the nearest Starbucks location ahead of other nearby Square merchants. In the Square Wallet map, it only shows the nearest Starbucks among the local businesses, although you can view Starbucks locations in a separate list view. So you can still discover other merchants that aren’t crowded out by multiple Starbucks stores.

When you get to a Starbucks, you can pay by clicking once on a “Pay Here” button on the store’s listing in the directory. Or you can pay from a stored card for that particular location. That calls up a single-use QR code that an employee can scan similar to how they scan the Starbucks app. Once the transaction is completed, you get a receipt confirming how much you paid.

For now, Square Wallet users can’t pay as they normally do at Square merchants — by opening a tab and paying with their name. That’s one of the coolest parts of Square Wallet, the ability to initiate and confirm a purchase by giving your name and showing your face to an employee at the counter. That is something Square is looking at implementing at some point, though it’s unclear how they will accomplish that, whether through integration with existing terminals at Starbucks stores or through the installation of iPads loaded up with Square Register software.

For the most part, the Square app doesn’t offer much functional advantage over the Starbucks app. Both help you find nearby stores and tell you what the store hours are and what each location offers. Square Wallet does a nicer job showing off menu items with bigger images but it doesn’t include nutritional info like the Starbucks app. You can also navigate to the nearest store from both apps. But if you’re looking for just one app that supports a bunch of local merchants as well Starbucks stores, Square Wallet can now handle that job.

Starbucks also has its own payment app, which debuted in January of 2011 and is now used two million times each week. Many of those customers will probably stick with their Starbucks app because it is integrated with Starbucks pre-paid cards and the My Starbucks Rewards program, which is not available though the Square Wallet app.

The Starbucks integration is more useful for existing Square Wallet users, who have had 200,000 small businesses to pay at but no large national chains. One of the advantages of using Square Wallet is that you don’t have to top off a pre-paid card. Each transaction is pulled from a stored debit or credit card.

The partnership represents a big marketing moment for Square, which now has a major retail partner using its payment app and helping introduce it to potentially millions of customers. Starbucks has also invested $25 million in Square and is using Square to process its U.S. credit card and debit card transactions.

Square and Starbucks were able to get basic integration working relatively quickly, which gives me hope that we may see more payment systems achieve interoperability. As I mentioned recently, the mobile payment landscape is so littered with various competitors that it’s going to prompt confusion and slow adoption for consumers and merchants.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2012/11/07/hands-on-with-square-wallet-now-ready-for-lattes-at-starbucks/feed/9Why Starbucks is betting on Squarehttp://gigaom.com/2012/08/08/why-starbucks-is-betting-on-square/
http://gigaom.com/2012/08/08/why-starbucks-is-betting-on-square/#commentsWed, 08 Aug 2012 18:51:46 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=550964While Square is the hot mobile payment startup, Starbucks (s sbux) is no slouch, having recorded 60 million mobile transactions in the last year and a half with its smartphone app or nearly 2 percent of all transactions. It now has more than a million people a week paying with the Starbucks app. So why is Starbucks partnering with Square?

It’s because Starbucks has seen the power of mobile payments first hand and knows it has the potential to be huge across all kinds of businesses, big and small. But it wasn’t prepared to expand its barcode-based payments system to other merchants as I and other observers have suggested. Adam Brotman, Starbucks’ chief digital officer told me after a morning press conference highlighting the deal that it made more sense for Starbucks to team with someone already in the larger mobile payment space than expand its current efforts. So it’s placing a bet on Square to be a leader in the form of a $25 million investment at a reported $3.25 billion valuation.

New way to pay at Starbucks

At first glance, the immediate pay off for Starbucks is hard to spot. By this holiday season, users of the Pay with Square app will soon be able to display a 2-D barcode that can be read by Starbucks’ scanners at 7,000 locations in the U.S. The really unique and engaging aspects of Pay with Square, such as using personal profiles and geo-fencing to initiate payments, won’t be available when the partnership begins this fall. That’s because implementing those features would involve a huge outlay in infrastructure for Starbucks, which would likely have to buy iPads (s aapl) or some other hardware to conduct transactions with those features.

Starbucks also won’t be utilizing Square’s new loyalty features or its analytics, because it already has its own tools. And the potential increase in payments via Pay with Square is debatable. Square hasn’t disclosed how many people have downloaded its Pay with Square app and said 75,000 merchants, mostly small shops, are able to accept Pay with Square payments. People are using Pay with Square but it’s likely a much smaller number than the people paying with credit cards at the 2 million merchants who use Square’s iconic card swipe reader.

What Starbucks does get is some undisclosed savings in interchange fees by using Square as its processor, though it’s unclear how meaningful that it is. Square currently charges a transaction fee of 2.75 percent on card purchases to merchants though the details of the Starbucks deal have not been disclosed. And Starbucks gets placement for its stores in the Pay with Square directory.

Big boost to Square and mobile payments

The benefits up front for Square, however, are huge. It gets a big endorsement from Starbucks, which will work to highlight Square in its stores. That can help as Square looks to convince more small, medium and larger businesses to adopt Pay with Square. And it will take over the credit and debit card processing for Starbucks, giving Square an enormous boost in transaction volume. Starbucks generated $3.3 billion in revenue in the third quarter, though its unclear how much was from credit and debit card transactions. Previously, Square was on pace to do $6 billion annually in transaction volume, but that should go way up. The Square merchant directory will also appear on the Starbucks Digital Network inside Starbucks locations and will eventually move to the Starbucks mobile app.

“This is definitely a pioneering deal and validates the technology and how this simple technology can scale,” said Square CEO Jack Dorsey at a press conference Wednesday. “We are definitely open to large retail and medium sized retail. Our focus was on individuals and small businesses but we want this to be a general payment device.”

So this will be a big boost for Square, raising its stature above a lot of other competitors. That’s important considering all the companies lining up to compete with Square, such as big players such as PayPal (s ebay), VeriFone (s pay), Intuit (s intu) and NCR (s ncr). But it’s going to be big for mobile payments overall, putting a big seal of approval on the technology by a trusted name.

Will other big retailers follow?

But I do wonder how fast other medium and large retailers who aren’t investing in Square will adopt Pay with Square. Most have their own hardware and aren’t equipped with the kind of 2-D scanners necessary to work with the new Pay with Square implementation. And many are also going to balk at the cost of upgrading their infrastructure to handle the full Pay with Square experience. Pay with Square is more attractive to people starting a new business or someone starting small.

Ultimately, this is a pretty strategic and arguably low-risk bet by Starbucks. They spend $25 millions and get in on one of the hottest startups around, a company that has the potential to really advance mobile payments. And Starbucks can learn from Square’s attention to customers and its attempts to make the payment technology “fade away,” as Dorsey likes to say.

Schultz said every payment company over the last six months has tried to sell Starbucks on the merits of adopting their system. He chose instead to reach out to Square because of Square’s focus on the customer experience. A quarter of Starbucks transactions now happen via Starbucks cards with a growing percentage of that quickly shifting to mobile, said Schultz.

“I can’t think of another thing we’ve introduced in the last 40 years that has had this adoption,” Schultz said of its mobile payments.

If the uptake on mobile payments outside of Starbucks follows what has happened inside Starbucks, Schultz’s bet could pay off big time.